Shade
by TMAN1224
Summary: In a world ruled by the devil king, there are far worse things to fear, death is not one of them.
"Help me" is all that can be heard from the fleeting cries of a woman surrounded in a dark alley. Three men approach the woman, the men covered in the strong odor of alcohol. Tears running down the woman's face as the three men approach with slim grins. The man on the right stretches out his hand and grabs the squirming woman's forearm and retreats his grasp as he hears a scraping of metal on the cobblestone alleyway. He looks up to see a pair of red eyes dancing in the darkness.

Everyone in the alley focuses their view to see a figure entombed in black emerge from the shadows followed by the scraping sound of metal. The wolf mask of the creature gleamed a devious dark grey, razor sharp teeth lined the mouth and upper jaw. The eyes were shadows that reflected the creature that wore it. It had a flickering crimson deep in it. The closest man slowly approaches the dark figure. The figure stops. The man stops with a smile forced by the alcohol in his blood.

"Who the hell are yo…" were all the words the man could say before a swift sidekick from the dark figure slammed it's metal talons into his chest sending him flying into the alley wall. The man connected with the wall and a small crunching sound could be heard as the man's ribs collapsed from the impact of the kick. A spray of blood erupts from the man's mouth followed by the sound of choking. The man fell onto the floor lifeless, a pool of blood spilling from his mouth.

The other two men just stood there pale as ghosts, paralyzed at the sight of the pool of blood enveloping the metal talons of the creature. A faint chuckle could be heard from behind the mask. The men's faces turned to anger and they both pulled 1 foot blades. The black shrouded creature slowly began to move towards the remaining men leaving a small trail of crimson in it's wake. One of the men ran in a outburst screaming in anger and made a lunge for the creature with his knife. The creature dodged with surprising dexterity and ducked under the man's knife and reached out with metal claws and grabbed the man's arm. The arm was then snapped at the elbow and the man screamed in pain. The creature grabbed the man's throat with a cold grasp, picking him off the ground. With a simple gesture the creature crushed the man's windpipe and tossed him to the side. The man left curled up gasping for air. Out of nowhere a blade plunges itself into the back of the creature.

"I did it. Holy shit I did it". Were the triumphant cries of the man as he stutters backwards, leaving the knife in the back of creature. He looked back at the creature it just stood there. All he heard was a faint noise coming from it.

Laughter. It was laughing. The creature slowly turned to face the man. It pulled the dagger out of its back and looked at it. The man's face turned to horror as the blood on the knife turned to shadows and drifted off into the night.

As the man turned to run, in the blink of an eye the creature stepped out of the shadows in front of him.

A sharp pain hit the man in the chin. He looked at the creature's face and in his last thought he could swear the mask was smiling.

The creature looked at it's finger like claws, stained with blood. It looked at it quarry, 3 holes in the chin oozing blood all over the cobblestone floor.

"They're all dead" came a quiet croak from a feminine voice. The creature turned to see the woman cowering against the wall, a shaky knife pointed in the direction of the creature. Tears streamed down her pale face and merged with blood spray creating a red patches on her white clothing.

The creature slowly began to move towards the woman.

"Stay a…." said the woman in a pleading voice that ceased as the creature pulled the dagger out of the woman's hands. The creature squatted down to the eye level a slow outstretched hand slowly grabbed the woman's jaw smearing warm blood onto her face. All the woman did was stare into the eyes of the creature that was revealed by a light. All she could do was stare into those devious hungering eyes. She was lost in the hatred of those eyes that raged like a wildfire.

She was surprised when the creature turned her head left than right. Satisfied the creature kept the head turned to the right. The woman noticed something on the mask that terrified her. She noticed that there was a gap in the mouth that had never been there before.

The last thing heard that night was a cut off scream carried away by the wind as the wolf mask, teeth and all open made a lunge towards the woman's throat.


End file.
